The majority of people probably know how intelligent and clever crows are. But did you know that, just like humans, they suffer from mental disorders? Actually, not really sure that they suffer from things such as depression, OCD, or other maladies of the mind, but it would seem that way just based on what I observed recently. I think it's fair to say that, at the least, they perform rituals...just like humans!
As per my usual schedule, I was waiting for a train at a major train station, and enduring the plethora of god damn noises that the train company apparently (and perhaps passive agressively) has no problem assaulting peoples' ears with; construction noises, various repetitive loud announcements, screeching train wheels, and so forth. At any rate, there I was looking down rather vacantly at the train tracks from a platform when I spied a sleek luxuriantly feathered crow between the tracks a short distance away. It was busily engaged in some activity but I couldn't make out exactly what it was that it was engaged in. I moved closer to where it was but it was so busy that no doubt under normal circumstances, it would have surely flown away as I approached. However, in this case, It was obviously too intent on seemingly accomplishing some task that it completely ignored me.
The rail tracks are filled in with large chunks of sharp edged gravel and it was this that the crow was busily sorting through with its beautifully polished sharpened beak, picking up one rock and moving it to another spot then picking up another and moving it to a different spot and so on for several minutes. And it wasn't just moving large chunks of gravel, some of which seemed hardly possible for the crow to move, but it was also plucking tufts of grass growing between the rocks and covering the spots from which the crow had moved the rocks. I wondered, what on Earth could this fella be doing, apart from the obvious? It was undoubtedly the most curious thing I had seen in quite some time. At some point the crow must have realized that I was watching it, with some degree of amazement no less (no one around me seemed to even notice what appeared to be for all intents and purposes some sort of compulsive ritual) and possibly out of embarrassment or maybe just because it just wanted to take a break, he hopped up onto a rail and began to stretch his legs and wings. But after a moment or two the gravel which the crow had such a curious and keen interest in lured him back and he began his sorting task once again.
Again, after a period of sorting and plucking, the crow suddenly stopped and and stared at me for a moment and then with its pristine beak picked up a hefty chunk of gravel and flew across to the other side of the train tracks above another platform where there was a ledge. A few minutes later, a crowd of people began to arrive and were conveniently enough (for the crow at least) walking toward the bombardier.
They say that crows have an uncanny ability for remembering peoples' faces and is depicted in fables and myths as being very cunning. In one fable a crow comes up to a pitcher and knows that his beak is too short to reach the water that is too far down in the pitcher and he realizes that if he tips it over, all the water will fall out. So what does the crow do? The crow then proceeds to pick up pebbles and places them in the pitcher so the water may rise and he can reach it to relieve his thirst. It's not a far stretch that crows are not incapable of that kind of cleverness which brings me back to the bombardier crow. As he was perched on the ledge with the sizeable rock at his feet looking toward the oncoming traffic, it seemed as if he were patiently waiting for someone, maybe eagerly so. Unfortunately, the train I had been waiting for had just arrived and blocked my view. There was no way to know what had happened after that but we can guess with reasonable accuracy as to what the mischeivous and clever crow did.
Ouch!
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